Argosy All-Story Weekly, December 2, 1922 — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

490 “JT have some pipe tobacco for you,” said Kain, producing a pouch. “ Come up and help yourself.” The old man considered Kain with a misty, uncertain eye, and then, climbing the steps of the porch, he took off his hat and stood at a little distance, as one who feared to intrude too far. Kain rose in- stantly and pushed forward a chair facing his own. ‘“ Sit down,” he said kindly. “Sir?” asked the gardener uneasily. “ You can finish the lawn when it’s a little cooler,” said Kain. “ Sit down and have a pipe and smoke a bit.” “Thank you, sir,” said the gardener, and sitting down gingerly on the edge of the chair he looked askance to make out the meaning of this unwonted cordiality; but since Kain passed him the pouch in silence he filled his pipe mechanically and lighted it, pressing down the red ember with a cal- loused forefinger. At the first breath of the smoke his eyes kindled; he removed the pipe, and from a distance watched the smoke curling from the bowl in a thin wraith. Restoring the pipe to his mouth he drew larger and larger puffs until his head was lost among clouds of bluish-white, and at length his glance re- verted to Kain. “ Now, this is tobacco,” the gardener re- marked. “It’s a mixture of my own,” said Kain, “ and you shall have a pound to take home if you wish.” “ Good tobacco,” replied the gardener in- directly, “ is better’n meat forme. My wife is always saying to me of an evening: ‘ Joe Gurfy,’ she says, ‘ pipe and tobacco mean more to you than wife and home,’ says she. And I says to Alice: ‘ Alice,’ says I, ‘ it wouldn’t be home without a pipe.’ Which is by way of being a joke, but not all a joke at that, sir.” Kain laughed softly with understanding, and as he looked at the gardener his ex- pression changed so much that he seemed almost a new man. “ But women, you take ’em all in all and through and through,” said Joe Gurfy, “ it makes ’em uneasy to see a man sitting happy and saying nothing. They like talk, ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. mostly, and they’re afraid of thinking that don’t come out in words.” “For my part,” answered Kain, “ when you show me a silent woman, you show me a very rare person, indeed.” “ And before I show you one,” broke in Joe Gurfy with enthusiasm, “I'll be show- ing you a whole flock of white blackbirds, sir! ) * Ah,” murmured Kain, “‘ you’re a fellow of experience and ought to know.” “Thirty-five years married,” sighed Joe Gurfy. “ Thirty-five years!” nodded Kain. “Well, well! ‘You don’t look it!” “IT bear up fair, considering,” said Joe Gurfy, ‘‘ but it’s sixty-two years since I first seen light and squalled at it.” ’ “ After watching you get about,” said Kain, “I wouldn’t put you a day over fifty.” ‘“Wouldn’t you, now,” said Joe Gurfy, and he smiled broadly upon Kain. ‘ No; I ain’t looked my age for nigh onto twenty years now; but if you’d seen me once you’d know the difference now.”’ He made a gesture of vast meaning with both brown-knotted hands, “Sixty-two years!” repeated Kain thoughtfully. “In this place most of the time?”’ “Man and boy and baby,” answered Gurfy, “ sixty-two years in this same town. Why, I knew it when there wasn’t twenty thousand all told by a free guess. Sixty-two years; yes, sir! Well, for thirty years I’ve cared for this here lawn and planted it five years. Last time was two years ago come August, but here it is looking sort of mangy already. No, sir, this ground don’t bear up now the way it once done.” He shook his head in profound convic- tion, and while his eyes were still half closed Kain swept him with one of those probing glances—like an artist who sees something at a glance and can reproduce it in detail afterward. Finally he said carelessly: “I found a picture in the attic the other day when I was picking about just after I rented this house. An interesting face, I thought; and if you’ve been so long about you may recog- nize the man.” Gomichbooks.com